Fresno County rule on election monies really is a protection plan for supervisors | Opinion

It is never a great look when one level of government sues another, and yet that is happening right now in Fresno County, and it involves some well-known politicians.

In this corner: Fresno County’s Board of Supervisors. Opposing them: Fresno City Councilmembers Luis Chavez and Garry Bredefeld.

The issue: Defining whether campaign accounts used by Chavez and Bredefeld in their City Council capacity can be rolled over into their new races for supervisor against incumbents Sal Quintero and Steve Brandau.

Bredefeld has $223,000, while Chavez has $110,000. They plan to use those funds for their supervisor campaigns. But the county says its 2020 law allows a “person” to donate up to $30,000 to a campaign. The county’s ordinance says a “person” includes campaign committees, like those used by candidates.

On Tuesday the three-member majority of the county board voted to get a judge’s interpretation and ruling on the 2020 law. Both Brandau and Quintero sat out the discussion and vote, given their campaigns for re-election.

In response, both Chavez and Bredefeld accused the county of “weaponizing” the campaign contribution law and using taxpayer-paid resources to mount the legal challenge.

For its part, the county issued a statement that stressed it is “confident that the outcome of this proceeding will confirm its position.”

Councilmembers’ views

Bredefeld has equal confidence that the county will fail in its attempt to impose a $30,000 limit. “I’m not surprised that the Board of Supervisors are wasting taxpayer money to defend their unconstitutional ordinance, which is nothing more than an incumbent protection scheme,” Bredefeld said in a statement to The Bee Editorial Board. “We are witnessing politicians, for the very first time, weaponizing county attorneys paid for by taxpayers to stop challengers from legally transferring individual contributions to another committee, which is done all the time and follows state law.”

Chavez also issued a statement, which included this: “This goes against the public’s constitutional right to free speech. It won’t work. ... The vote today (Tuesday) was unconstitutional and borderline illegal and amounts to a public gift of funds by expending tax dollars to help an incumbent during a political campaign.”

Bredefeld, who represents District 6 in northeast Fresno, is running against Brandau to represent Supervisor District 2, which includes part of Clovis as well as northeast and northwest Fresno. Chavez, who represents District 5 in south Fresno, is running against his former boss, Quintero, who represents District 3, which encompasses central and southeast Fresno as well as the unincorporated community of Calwa.

Brandau has $173,619 in his campaign account, according to the most recent filings. Quintero has $74,498.

Unlevel playing field

According to the county, Brandau and Quintero can use the money they have on hand from previous campaigns. Sonja Dosti, public information officer for the county, explained in an email:

“With respect to contributions, all candidates are subject to the same limitation. Redesignation of campaign funds for the same office is specifically allowed under the provisions of the Political Reform Act (PRA) and FPPC regulations in jurisdictions that have passed their own contribution limits under the PRA. Redesignation is ONLY allowed in cases where a jurisdiction has passed its own contribution limits (2 CCR sec. 18521(b)).”

So campaign funds accumulated by Brandau and Quintero in previous races can be utilized for their 2024 re-election, irrespective of the limit. But campaign monies on hand by Bredefeld and Chavez — or anyone else —must come under the limit.

That is incumbent protection, indeed. Bredefeld and Chavez are right in their criticisms.

A court may find it to be legal, but it is not right. Such a system gives incumbents too much of an advantage when it comes to elections, as if they needed any more help. The name recognition of an incumbent is already a big boost, plus an officeholder gets photo ops with key officials, like the sheriff and district attorney, that play well in campaign materials.

The legal system will determine this spat between county and city leaders. But when the supervisors adopted their campaign limit law nearly three years ago, they codified incumbent protection. That is not good government.

This story was originally published March 2, 2023 at 5:30 AM.